There is a potential crankcase issue on a number of 2014-2015 model-year Victory motorcycles. Included in the recall are the 2014 Victory Cross Country, Cross Country Eight Ball, Hammer Eight Ball, High Ball, Jackpot, Judge, Ness Cross Country, Vegas Eight Ball, Vision, Boardwalk and the 2015 Gunner.

The 872 potentially affected units were manufactured between January 22, 2014 and April 25, 2014. According to the notice to the NHTSA, Victory has determined that some crankcases may have been manufactured with insufficient clearance between the crankshaft and crankcases which can result in too little crankshaft endplay. Engines assembled using a faulty crankcase may unexpectedly seize. This could cause the vehicle operator to lose control, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.To date there have been no reports of engine failures from the public.

Victory discovered the issue during quality control assessments on the production line. Victory has begun to notify owners of affected models and are asking that motorcycles included in the recall not be ridden until a dealer has conducted an inspection and made any necessary repairs. Victory has also issued a stop sale notification to its dealer network until the problem can be remedied. Crankcase clearance will be fixed free of charge on motorcycles found to have the defect. Owners may Polaris at 1-888-704-5290 for more information.

Looks to me like Victory has a good quality control system that picked up a potential tolerance problem very quickly. Then they jumped on the issue and are recalling affected bikes. No memos as to cost versus benefit of ignoring the problem like GM, etc. That is just how it should be. Good on ya Victory.

Good they spotted the problem.
I was thinking the other day there is allot more recalls than there used to be across all of the automotive industry ? but then maybe not.
The internet makes us all so much more aware and generally most manufacturers have far better notation and tracking of their parts inventory as in what was used when and where.
This enables them to be far more pro-active than say 30 years ago.

I bought a brand new 1981 Triumph Bonneville Electro.
Electro meaning electric start. The starter gear in my bike was deemed faulty and Triumph sent out one for replacement . The Dealer said we will see what happens. Well sure enough he had sold three Electros and the other two failed and mine did not..
It did have other problems ( worse ones) though but was a great bike to ride and very pretty.

Am I the only one who found it strange that Polaris made this recall announcement only seven days after the release of its quarterly earnings? And, they made no mention of it to its investors during the call? Coincidence?

P. Hamilton, Polaris’ 1st quarter results were released on April 23rd and the recall was made public on May 1st. Considering that these decisions are not made overnight, I find it highly unlikely Polaris did not know that a recall was planned at the time of the Investor Relations conference call.

Responding to your statement regarding “no public company is going to take the risk…” I guess you haven’t been following the GM ignition recall saga.

I’m still wondering when Polaris/Victory is going to release the updated Lock and Ride backrest/luggage racks that were recalled in the Fall of 2013. The replacements were due last month (originally slated for March) and that date has come and gone with no work from Polaris. While I’m a fan of what Victory has accomplished in a relatively short period, it seems that since Polaris purchased the Indian brand, Victory has been a bit ignored.

I’ll chalk these issues up to growing pains and some poor management on the oversight of vendors/suppliers. From what I am to understand of the current Victory recall, the Dealers are left without new bikes to sell. Let’s face it, it’s been a very long Winter for most of the USA and the Dealers were counting on a strong Spring selling season. I’ll guess that with the current recall, the Victory Dealers will only have older inventory and pre-owned bikes to sell this season. Maybe Cyril can do a story about the current situation with available (new) Victory inventory and how this recall is affecting dealers.

It doesn’t make any difference for Victory to announce now versus 1st quarter. And, as a matter of fact, it maybe worse to have to recall later when sales pick up and dealers are busy. It has nothing to do with GM. GM knew they had an issue during years. They were “burying” it. As a matter of fact, if GM had announced the recall before their bankruptcy and bail out they would have had no legal responsibility, whatsoever.

I have to agree with Sonny on this.
The victory recall is not going to be an easy fix “do not ride” “stop sales” of bikes produced in the first quarter.
As for HD the recall was sent out on 4/9/14 the first quarter report on 4/22/14

Sonny, I don’t remember the exact dates but the recall only affects bikes between the end of Jan and I think late March or early April. It’s not a design defect it’s a manufacturing defect that was picked up during regular quality control measures, dated back to the previous test. Not all bikes in the potential pool of recalled bikes will have the defect and bikes made after the the defect was found can still be sold. Dealers will be fine.

Why is everything negative about victory down played and anything about HD exaggerated?
Victory has a recall that is going to require a bottom end rebuild of every bike they produced for 4 months strait and it’s no big deal?
If you can’t remember the exact dates of vehicles affected the artical above has the exact dates!
That shows the point I am trying to make down play it even if it’s rite there in you’re face.

There were quite a few Harley recalls in 2013, At least you can’t accuse Cyril to be partial. He reports both those of Polaris and of Harley-Davidson. All manufacturers have recalls, even for your jet ski.

I compleatly agree with you Joshua, Cyril is on point with keeping up with the latest news and I love that, but it seems that a lot of people want to hate on HD no matter what they do and that seems off to me.

Greeco saidL “It doesn’t make any difference for Victory to announce now versus 1st quarter. And, as a matter of fact, it maybe worse to have to recall later when sales pick up and dealers are busy.

I’ll respond by stating that the reason I’m questioning the timing as if it would have been discussed during the conference call, it could have made the investors and fund managers a bit anxious and they could have pulled back on its Polaris positions as well as recommendations. Yes, it’s always about the money. This is why I find the timing to be a bit suspect.

And, Thanks Pinhead!

I’d really like to see an Editorial from Cyril on the Victory recall. It would be great to hear it from an expert such as Cyril so that we can understand what type of fix will be necessary and how long the new inventory will be on hold.

Word on the street is out of the 872 bikes affected by this recall; it is believed only 40 or so will be affected. Depending on the customers wants or needs; they might be given an option to either have the entire bike replaced or swap the motor. Some people will have done some custom work to their bikes and hence the option.

I guess we will just have to wait and see for now. This could give Victory/Polaris a black eye if not dealt with quickly and with good customer service.

The thing is Polaris is making good without having to be forced to..
That’s a GOOD thing !!!!
Every thing mechanical will have an issue from time to time
how the company handles it decides whether the public gives it a “Pass or a Fail”
Yes. Cyril is impartial and just delivers the news.
it is the “Comments” that drive you crazy